‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘Thrill Show’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

If there’s one thing I don’t envy from a creative perspective, it’s having to figure out how to juggle proper screen time for a television series that features an ensemble cast. Because there are fan favorites outside of the main stars, and they deserve to do more than mug for the camera and writing a story that has to balance both has to be both a difficult and exhausting task. But it is something that most shows figure out along the way, often times by just giving the secondary character an episode of their own. But here and there some shows figure out the precise balance of giving the audience what they want while growing a character that tends to stay in the background and it just so happens that CHiPs pulled off that particular feat in its next episode.
 
Because ‘Thrill Show’ found a way to give Officer Bonnie Clark more to do than just flash her smile and support Ponch and Jon and how the story handled this was masterful in its own right. For an old flame of Bonnie’s, named Ray Conner, popped up in this particular tale and he was quick to ignite that flame once again and offer quite the unique opportunity. For Ray was with a daredevil troupe of stuntmen, who toured the country and did a few movie appearances here and there and in order to properly give Bonnie everything that she needed emotionally in a relationship and financially in general, he offered her a job with his group and that put Bonnie in quite the difficult place mentally.
 
After all, she did enjoy her duties as a Highway Patrol officer, but the allure of being with someone she cared for deeply and doing something new and exciting made her wonder if she should accept that particular offer. And the conflict within was so great that she actually sought out Getrear’s advice at his home and I have to say, I was quite impressed with what he had to say. Because he more or less taught Bonnie that the only way to know if the grass is greener on the other side, is to go through the fence. In fact, he even confessed that he once gave a professional go at his own hobby whilst on vacation a long time ago to see if it fulfilled him, and clearly, it did not. But her concern prompted him to give Bonnie a little leave time to figure out her path and thankfully she did, and she didn’t leave the force. Which is awesome because Bonnie is awesome.
 
Yet I made mention of this episode featuring balance in its storytelling and that was accomplished by giving Ponch and Jon some Creeps of the Week to deal with. And this time around, they had to square off with members of a band who were broke and desperate and willing to resort to theft in order to get their hands on some bread so they could put together a quality album and these guys, were a genuine pain in the rear. Because they were willing to ram police officers and cause accidents in order to evade capture. But thankfully, patience and some incredible stunt work that paralleled what Ray’s team does for a living, allowed for these guys to finally be brought to justice.
 
If anything, I really do appreciate the fact that this particular episode found a way to put Bonnie at the forefront of the story. Because to date, we’ve never really seen that happen on the show and it was a welcome change of pace since her story was pertinent and fascinating and relatable. Because we’ve all been in her shoes and wondered whether or not the career path, we’ve chosen is right for us in the slightest. But good support helped her figure it out and once again, the bad guys are behind bars and well, that’s about all you can ask for from an episode of CHiPs and with only two more to go in season three, I am expecting the unexpected since the series continues to pull out all of the stops storytelling wise. Until next time. 

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